Publication:

Knowledge of family planning and current use of contraceptive methods among currently married women in Uttar Pradesh, India

Background India was the first country to implement population policies, still after 63 years, it’s far away from achieving low fertility rates. Fertility rates are directly associated with the use of family planning methods. Besides, the use of contraceptive methods amongst the currently married women is very low (49%) in India.

Methods Data have been extracted from NFHS 2005-06 for Uttar Pradesh. Cross-tabulation and multivariate analysis have been carried out to study the patterns of contraceptive methods and their determinants.

Results In Uttar Pradesh, CPR is very low (43%). Women from rural area are 32% (OR=0.681**) less likely to use contraception than urban women. Women’s age is positively related with current use of contraceptives. The likelihood of using contraception is 46% (OR=0.549) lower among Muslims compared to Hindus. Women below middle school are 30% (OR= 1.302***) and women with middle complete are 67% (OR =1.669***) more likely to use the contraceptive methods than the illiterate women. Women belonging to low SLI are 44% (OR= 0.569*) less likely and with high SLI are 60% (OR =1.5999*) more likely to use contraception, than women belong to medium SLI. Women use more contraception with increasing parity. Among all the predictors women’s education found to be the most important.

Conclusions There is a wide gap between knowledge and acceptance of contraceptives among currently married women in Uttar Pradesh. There is an urgent need to strengthen the awareness among currently married women so that ultimate aim of reducing fertility rates can be achieved.